The Waiting Place

Sometimes our best isn’t good enough. After doing everything in our power, we come to a point where that which we hope for is still beyond our reach. We work, we think, we pray. We seek help from others. We do all we know to do and then, having done all, we stand. We dig in deep and put our hope and faith in God. And then…we wait. We wait for healing to begin and for ships to come in. We live much of our interior existence awaiting something and within that anticipatory life, in matters both small and great, God will often bless us with gracious gifts.

In her recent release, The Waiting Place (Thomas Nelson,$15.99), author Eileen Button offers a collection of personal stories which illustrate how life’s episodes of waiting can be filled with grace. Whether we’re waiting for a miracle, a sign from God, or simply for a troublesome day to end, moments of beautiful hope can overwhelm us. Frustration yields to peace, despair gives way to hope, and spiritual loneliness evaporates when we encounter God’s kingdom in the midst of the mundane.

Eileen Button is an extraordinarily gifted writer, one whom I can recommend to the most discerning of literary tastes. The Waiting Place is not only a wonderfully crafted work - it is a work of substance. She has something important to say and she says it well. She reminds us that as we wait for something ahead of us, the gifts of God for the people of God often break in from the side.

-Darrel Holcombe